


Further Down Road One

by jacksgreysays (jacksgreyson)



Series: Down Every Road [2]
Category: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen, Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, F/M, Gen, Inspired by Fanfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-06-10 08:08:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6946924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacksgreyson/pseuds/jacksgreysays
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>spinoff of Down Every Road Chapter One "arranged marriage"</p><p>(recursive fanfiction of Silver Queen's Dreaming of Sunshine. originally posted on tumblr)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Dreaming of Sunshine](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/53648) by Silver Queen. 



**_(shogi)_ **

Someone is testing his patience–unfortunately, Danzo doesn’t know who.

His plan to destroy the Uchiha and steal their Sharingan–justified by preventing a coup, of course–has been thwarted by a single engagement. Which ought to point out the culprit as that upstart Nara clan head, especially given his tenacious tracking of supplies Danzo has appropriated for ROOT, except there is more:

The Merchant’s Guild, primarily a civilian organization, has begun making inquiries into some of Danzo’s less legitimate businesses–though they are several times removed from himself. The Intel Division, who aren’t worth the title shinobi, are enacting a stricter review over mission assignments and reports, restricting his soldiers’ movements.

The Uchiha Police Force–yet another reason to exterminate those overpowered menaces–have received anonymous tips, turning certain deaths from “accidental” to “potential foul play.” Most are easily avoided, but some lead directly to the younger recruits recently orphaned on his orders.

It is too many instances to be Shikaku Nara, beyond his scope as Nara clan head and Jounin Commander. And yet, the timing is far too suspicious to be merely coincidental.

Someone is testing his patience.

_[She is still a Nara, no matter what she’s consigned herself to be in the future, and there are some parts of her heritage that she refuses to lose. Shogi may seem like such a small thing, but it is a connection she refuses to sever. She will remember these soft, lazy days with her parents and her brother fondly._

_Also, the lessons are useful._

_She has stepped into a shogi game spanning the entire village. Danzo has his political contacts, his wealth, and ROOT as his pieces. In opposition are her clans–present and future–their allies, and herself._

_Danzo is paranoid, increasingly so, but not enough to correctly guess the identity of his opponent._

_Shikako is piece and player, both.]_

* * *

**_(friendship)_ **

He is so busy straddling the line between clan heir and loyal ANBU that when news of his little brother’s engagement finally makes it’s way through the fog of stress and desperation, Itachi is completely blindsided.

Shisui is, too, so it’s not like he has any high ground to stand on. “Your little sister in law is very cute.”

“Future sister in law,” Itachi says back, just to be contrary, “Also, she’s six.”

“Yeah, which is why I said cute; smart, too, quiet, though,” he smirks, “She reminds me of you, actually,” he says pointedly enough that Itachi meets his eyes in curiosity.

There is danger in speaking out loud, unsure of who may hear, and so Itachi and Shisui have developed their own silent language.

Shisui can’t actually be thinking about bringing a six year old into their counter conspiracy, can he?

“She’s six,” Itachi repeats out loud.

“And what were you doing when you were six?” Shisui responds, dryly, “Anyway, I’m not saying we do anything until you actually talk to her.”

Itachi hums noncommittally.

“Ask her about the engagement,” Shisui suggests, “about whose idea it was.”

_[She isn’t really expecting to make friends, doesn’t have the time to, what with the silent war she’s undertaken. She has her brother, she doesn’t really need anyone else. And anyway, allies are one thing, but friends? Not likely.]_

* * *

**_(cats)_ **

Mikoto has always had a soft spot for Sasuke: he is her baby, after all, unlike Itachi who has the weight of Fugaku and the clan elder’s expectations. Which is why she keeps such a close eye on her daughter-in-law to be. Mikoto is not against the engagement–Shikako Nara is a good match for her youngest son, and a sweet girl from what she’s seen–but she’ll be damned if her baby ends up in a marriage that makes him miserable.

As it is, perhaps she is too busy expecting the worst, focusing on Shikako instead of Sasuke, because he seems to be quite content with the engagement. Happy, even. Maybe even in love–though they are both only twelve and it is too early to say–at the very least, on the path to it.

Sasuke is her baby, so she was planning to pass down her summoning contract to him, but it appears as if he has other ideas:

“It’s an Uchiha contract,” Fugaku denies, never mind that it’s not even his decision to make, trying to divert his youngest son from this notion with a cold tone of voice.

But Sasuke holds his head up, standing firm against his father, and easily says, “Shikako will be my wife. She will be an Uchiha.”

The confidence, the devotion, the clear, pure conviction that he is right, that he will do this for his bride-to-be, no matter what his father–who might as well have been his god–says. It doesn’t matter what Mikoto thinks of Shikako Nara, not really, because she knows enough about the girl from this single moment to know. Sasuke may not love her yet, but he’s definitely on the way: as far as Mikoto is concerned, if Shikako is worthy of that, then she can be worthy Mikoto’s other legacy.

_[She knows there is a deer summons. Knows that, because of the engagement, she will never be allowed to sign it. She may be a Nara for now, but she will not be in the future, and any children she has will be Uchiha not Nara. The deer contract should remain in the clan, she knows that, it’s enough that she still gets to learn shadow jutsu._

_It’s a minor thing, anyway, summoning. There are powerful shinobi who don’t have summoning contracts and it’s not like she was guaranteed to have the deer summons, anyway. It was just a spare thought. Something that would have been nice to have–not something she needs. She resigns herself, something she’s been doing a lot of, to never being a summoner._

_Except Sasuke changes that. His mother has a contract, and while it was originally meant to be for him, he’s convinced her to offer it to Shikako. And that still doesn’t guarantee anything–maybe the cats won’t like her, maybe they’ll reject her as a summoner–but it’s far more than she was expecting._

_Cats are not deer, and being an Uchiha bride is not the same as being a Nara daughter, but it’s more than what she was expecting. More than enough.]_


	2. Even Further Down Road One

**_(_ ** ~~ **_friendship–_ ** ~~ **_jealousy)_ **

“Little brother,” Itachi says, barely a warning before he musses Saskue’s hair. Now that he’s a genin with the forehead protector to go with it, his brother can no longer do his usual greeting flick. But Itachi has adapted easily, finding another way to simultaneously express fondness and casually exert dominance.

“Aniki!” he complains, trying to straighten the mess.

“Little sister. Naruto-kun,” Itachi continues, instead, gently tugging on Shikako’s braid. Which is, frankly, unfair. The idiot also gets treated to a hair ruffle, but considering his hair is always a mess, it hardly makes a difference.

“Itachi,” Shikako says with a smile, “What are you doing here?”

Here being Team Seven’s usual training grounds, sans their jounin sensei since no one knows where Kakashi might be at any given point in time. Certainly not where he’s supposed to be.

“We both just got back from missions and we wanted to check up on our favorite genin,” Itachi answers, with a smile of his own.

An evil smile.

“We?” Sasuke repeats, dread already pooling in his stomach.

“Sasuke-chan!” A terrible voice rings out before, yet again, a hand ruins his just neatened hair.

_Shisui_.

Fortunately, the offender moves on to a different victim. “Naruto! What embarrassing things has my baby cousin been up to?” Never mind–it’s unfortunate.

“Shisui!” Shikako says, delight in her tone and eyes. She doesn’t even flinch away when the bastard pulls her into a hug. “I thought you weren’t coming back for another week.”

“Well,” Shisui half shrugs, one arm staying around Shikako’s shoulders. Unnecessarily. “I couldn’t just let my adorable little sister languish without her favorite Uchiha.”

Okay, that’s it.

“Go away!” Sasuke shouts, just barely resisting the urge to physically shove Shisui away because that might jostle Shikako with his proximity. “Go bother your own team!” Because maybe that’ll work. “And she’s not your sister,” he adds.

“Little brother,” Itachi sighs, shaking his head in disappointment, “There’s no need to be rude.”

Shisui, infuriatingly, just smirks. “It’s okay, Itachi. I understand,” he nods, smirk growing wider, “Puberty.”

The inarticulate noise that claws its way out of his throat does more to ward off his brother and cousin, because–after yet another set of hair ruffling–they leave.

“Jeez, Sasuke,” Naruto says, because he never met a situation that he didn’t decide to aggravate immediately, “What’s wrong with you?”

Shikako is too tactful to ask, but looks equally interested in his answer. Sasuke tries not to blush, already embarrassed at how easily flustered he was.

“Nothing,” he mutters, “Let’s just spar already.”

Hopefully by the time Kakashi arrives, she’ll have forgotten his complete lack of cool.

* * *

**_(_ ** ~~ **_shogi–_ ** ~~ **_respect)_ **

Sasuke has known–ever since they were children at the Academy, even before their engagement–that Shikako is a genius.

Sure, it probably started as a childish, self-absorbed acknowledgement–anyone smarter than him had to be a genius by default–but now that they are older, Sasuke has realized just how much of a genius his fianceé truly is.

She is constantly working on one project or another, always improving herself to tackle even bigger challenges. She sees beyond what everyone else can, always three steps ahead. So why would she do this?

“I’m not going to fight my brother,” she repeats, after returning to the viewing area, after forfeiting to Shikamaru of all people–the laziest person Sasuke has ever met.

He doesn’t understand. Even if her relationship with her brother is different from  his relationship with Itachi–which is, admittedly, probably more of a one-sided competition than a true sibling rivalry–that doesn’t mean she was only left with the one option. The preliminaries are hardly death matches, and it’s not as if she couldn’t have at least sparred against Shikamaru. Chances are, if it had required even a modicum of effort, Shikamaru would have been the one to forfeit first.

Sasuke doesn’t actually say so out loud, wouldn’t want to verbally undermine her decision in front of so many people, but she can probably see the confusion in the slant of his eyebrows, the twist of his mouth. Shikako’s always been able to read him so easily.

She smiles back at him, a poor attempt at reassurance given the tightness in the corners of her eyes. He likes to think he can read her just as well.

“Who knows the next time my brother will ever get close enough to a promotion?” She tries to joke, and while that’s enough to put off the others, it’s not enough for him.

Softer, so only their team can hear, she adds, “There’s a different battle I need to prepare for,” her tone tamped down to something serious, almost concerned.

He doesn’t understand, and neither does Naruto from the look on his face, but Kakashi seems to. For now, at least, Sasuke will trust their jounin sensei on this matter–at least until Shikako is ready to reveal more.

Somehow, even though she’s the only member of their team not part of the third round, Shikako trains harder than either of he or Naruto during the month long gap. Sasuke’s time is split between Itachi and Kakashi, Naruto’s split between Kakashi and some weird old pervert he randomly happened across, apparently, but Shikako? Has been participating in training with Kakashi, Itachi, Naruto’s old perverted mentor, Shisui, her parents, and even Sasuke’s mother. He would call it major overkill if it didn’t seem so important to her.

Just what is she preparing for, anyway?

The answer comes soon enough when, in the middle of his fight against Gaara, a genjutsu falls over the arena.

An invasion–by Sand and the snake bastard who tried to bite him in the Forest of Death–what the hell?

Sasuke goes after Gaara and his siblings because, well, he’s already fighting him so why not? Shikako and a bunch of the other Rookie Nine appear not long after, and if he weren’t so glad to see her, he’d probably be confused as to how easily she steps up and takes charge of the situation. As is, he’s still pretty damned impressed. Also, proud.

Now he understands why she forfeited during the preliminaries. An exam? A promotion? Those don’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things.

This is the Shikako he knows–observing everything, three steps ahead and already reacting. A genius.

And he’s going to marry that girl.

* * *

**_(_ ** ~~ **_cats–_ ** ~~ **_affection)_ **

Usually when Shikako and his mother train together, Sasuke tries not to hang around. He doesn’t want to distract them and, plus, he gave up his right to the cat summons. Also, sometimes, their training devolves into his mother regaling Shikako with baby stories which he’d rather not be around for. Bad enough that she hears them; if he’s not there to witness it, at least he has plausible deniability.

But given that they do train at the house and he, well, lives there, he can’t always avoid it.

Thankfully this time the two of them are actually summoning cats.

“Summoning Jutsu!” Shikako calls out, a familiar pattern of ink spreading from her fingertips. The chakra smoke is minimal, because Shikako has always had excellent chakra control, but the result is still… less than ideal.

A kitten mewls curiously, before shakily walking around.

Shikako sighs.

“Well,” his mother says diplomatically, “At least this one’s capable of moving.”

Shikako sighs again, even louder. Disheartened, she sits: legs crossed, elbows on her knees, head propped in her hands. She watches the kitten makes its sluggish trek across the floor.

“You’re actually doing quite well,” his mother tries again, “I didn’t even start learning how to summon until I was older than you.”

It doesn’t appear to be working, even though Shikako nods politely.

And it’s not as if Sasuke thinks he can do any better, but he hates seeing her so dejected. So he takes a seat beside her, scoops up the kitten, and holds it out to her. He tries to smile at her: it’s only strained as it is because he’s risking hearing really embarrassing childhood stories about himself and also the kitten apparently hates him and is using it’s tiny claws and teeth on his hands. What the hell, it might be breaking skin.

Shikako understands, because she gives a soft chuckle before taking the summon from his hands. Unsurprisingly, it stops fighting, rubbing it’s face affectionately against her skin.

Sasuke doesn’t need to say anything: he just sits quietly at her side and lets her know he’s there for her, no matter what.


	3. Very Far Down Road One - a softer ficlet (2017-06-04)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> part of the [a softer ask box](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11406585) event

_[I do not believe in love at first sight.](http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=1000) _   
_[ But god damn.](http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=1000) _   
_[ …](http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=1000) _   
_[ (Look at you.)](http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=1000) _

—

 ****Sasuke keeps his face forward, barely breathing, trying not to meet the gaze of Shikamaru who would, if he could, set Sasuke on fire with the force of his glare or at the very least stab him a couple of times.

Sasuke also does not want to meet Shikaku-san’s eyes which, while not as sharp as his son’s, are probably far more intimidating.

The heads of the Akimichi and Yamanaka clans are no less formidable.

Really, he ought to just consider that half of the room off limits and focus on his half which are full of his family who are happy for him on this day and don’t want him to die a horrific, bloody death…

… and there’s Shisui making faces in an embarrassing and unconvincing attempt to hide his tears of joy; Aniki who is barely stifling his laughter into their mother’s similarly vibrating shoulder; and Father whose stalwart resistance to slapping his nephew upside the head is manifesting itself as a twitching eye and throbbing forehead vein.

Facing forward it is.

The strains of music begin, finally, the procession entering: priests in full garb, then the bridal party in their own colorful kimono. Naruto and Kakashi near to the end holding up paper parasols in front of then–finally, please–above…

Beautiful. Radiant. Mesmerizing.

If he was barely breathing before, then he’s definitely stopped now.

… Shikako. Stunning in her white wedding kimono, the hood and the makeup unable to hide her soft but honest smile.

He can feel the responding smile grow on his face, and he knows he must look like an absolute awestruck idiot, but he doesn’t care.

Today is not about looking cool or not getting killed by his in-laws or the continuing mortification he gets from his family. Today (finally finally finally) he’s marrying the woman he loves.


End file.
